Acupuncture Study

[bodhitree]

A big blow? Not likely. There is much discussion among the community, of course, but the general conclusion is that needling helps. Fake or "sham" acupuncture does not really exist, as the entire body is covered with smaller channels that join the large channels, so no matter where you put a needle, you're going to be stimulating the meridian. So, overall this study shows that acupuncture works.

yours in health

herb ox

Interesting perspective!


IMO backpain is another 'lifestyle' problem. If people exercised, stretched regularly, and payed attention to their posture by and large most backpain can be avoided (I know there are exceptions: e.g. injuries). So many of our health issues in the western world are by choice? That's sad.

[PlumDragon]

Anyone watch "Private Practice"?
Its a spin off from Greys Anatomy, I watched it last night with my wife. They have on the show, an acupuncturist who is in a flirty struggle with the surgeon on whether or not Eastern Medicine works. Ironically, its this setting that will probably prove to be more beneficial in the reputation of such "tools" than most of the legitimate studies out there...

IMO backpain is another 'lifestyle' problem. If people exercised, stretched regularly, and payed attention to their posture by and large most backpain can be avoided (I know there are exceptions: e.g. injuries). So many of our health issues in the western world are by choice? That's sad.

Backpain (and sinus issues and intestinal and hernial isues, etc etc etc) is also often times the result of an "incomplete design". While theres no question that good diet, posture, exercise, etc etc drastically lowers the chances of back pain, among other things, our body is not a flawless shiny figurine on a pedastal that many people seem to think--we are a work in progress.

[AJM]

Maybe the idiots should be using Tui Na and not accupunture for lower back pain.
Accupunture is not for everything and in most cases in my opinion accupressure is more effective.

[herb ox]

AJM, those are some pretty strong words there... would you care to elaborate as to how you have arrived at that conclusion? I certainly agree that manual pressure created by tuina and acupressure may have a stronger effect when it comes to mechanical / structural malformations, but if you read the study thoroughly, you will find that the study comes out in favor of acupuncture as an effective treatment for treating low back pain.

I'm with PD re: "incomplete design" - in TCM we understand that everyone is born with a certain "congenital essence" that we really cannot alter - we get it from our parents and is what gives the wondrous variations in our species. So, for one person to assume all back issues are due to lifestyle is likely because that person does not suffer from structural malformations that cause intractable pain.

Also I agree with PD's comments about the portrayal of acupuncture in popular media having an effect on the general consensus. Oprah has hosted an acupuncturist on her show twice now (generally favorable) and when you crunch the numbers, that WILL be a huge boost for our profession. Only time will tell just how much, though...

cheers

herb ox

[couch]

What's a Chinese Medicine Practitioner to do? Just keep making miracles happen in my own backyard.

Sham acupuncture? Five Element tradition believes that by placing needles in very shallow will act on the more spiritual side of people.

Sham acupuncture? No such thing. That's why the western medical side can't measure what we do. You can't really have a double-blind study.

And at the end of the day, I'm okay with that. When a client walks into my clinic and walks out after a course of treatment with a better & stronger back, stable emotions and also seems to have found a life purpose - you can't tell me that the client and I didn't do a good job.

You can't measure that kind of progress.

There's a wonderful quote inside Brian Greenwood's book Braving The Void from an M.D. that I will paraphrase: "...medicine is going in the direction of high tech for diagnostic evaluation when people are crying out to just have someone to listen to them."

Regarding the backpain being a lifestyle problem (posture/improper lifting/etc) I agree somewhat. But when we have an aging woman going through menopause and she starts to develop back pain...we have a Kidney deficiency - and just by stimulating her Kidney energy (even without local points, etc) I can achieve balance and pain relief.

Best,
Kenton Sefcik, R.Ac

[GeneChing]

...and if the treatment doesn't work, you can always pin the flaky skin back on...

Acupuncture may ease the itch of eczema
Amy Norton
Tue Dec 22, 2009 1:22pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An acupuncture session may bring some itch relief to people with the allergic skin condition known as atopic eczema, a preliminary study suggests.

Health

Eczema is a general term for conditions marked by inflammation and dry, red, itchy patches on the skin. The most common form, atopic eczema, is seen in people with a predisposition to allergies, like hay fever or asthma.

In the new study, German researchers looked at the short-term effects of acupuncture on skin inflammation and itching in 30 people with atopic eczema.

They found that the therapy, when done minutes after patients' skin was exposed to an allergen (either pollen or dust mites), appeared to soothe subjective feelings of itchiness.

In addition, when patients were exposed to the allergen for a second time shortly after the acupuncture session, they tended to have a less-severe skin reaction, the researchers report in the journal Allergy.

The findings show that in this "experimental setting," acupuncture seems to ease the itch of atopic eczema, lead researcher Dr. Florian Pfab, of the Technical University of Munich, told Reuters Health in an email.

The study does not, however, answer the question of whether acupuncture as practiced in the real world would have similar benefits.

For the study, Pfab and his colleagues looked at all 30 patients under three different test conditions.

In one, patients had their skin exposed to either pollen or dust-mite allergens, then received true, or "point-specific," acupuncture -- in which needles were placed in traditional acupuncture points that, according to Chinese medicine, are related to itchy skin.

In another condition, the allergen exposure was followed by "placebo-point" acupuncture, where the needles were inserted into skin areas not used in traditional Chinese medicine. In the third condition, patients received no treatment.

Overall, Pfab's team found, patients' itchiness ratings were lower after they received true acupuncture, compared with both no treatment and placebo acupuncture.

Then, when the researchers exposed patients' skin to the allergens a second time, skin flare-ups tended to be less-severe following the point-specific acupuncture. As for itchiness, however, both the true and placebo therapies had similar benefits compared with no treatment.

Acupuncture has been used for more than 2,000 years in Chinese medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments. According to traditional medicine, specific acupuncture points on the skin are connected to internal pathways that conduct energy, or qi ("chee"), and stimulating these points with a fine needle promotes the healthy flow of qi.

Modern research has suggested that acupuncture may help ease pain by altering signals among nerve cells or affecting the release of various chemicals of the central nervous system.

Pfab explained that pain and itchiness have similarities in their underlying mechanisms, so acupuncture's effects on pain mechanisms may also account for the benefits seen in this study.

The researcher pointed out, however, that more research is needed to see whether and why acupuncture might be helpful for people with eczema.

SOURCE: Allergy, online December 11, 2009.

[kfson]

Several months ago, floss became stuck between the last two molars on the bottom left side of my mouth. My jaw was already moved forward to make room for my fingers. With frustration, I yanked on the floss and the jaw came out of joint. It was loose and when I bit down the joint gorund on itself, bone on bone or cartilage. It wouldn't stay in joint. Finally late the next day, I saw my doctor of oriental medicine. A 30 minute acupuncture session with electrical stimulation improved the condition to about 90% of normal. In other words the jaw stayed in place but was still a little loose and clicked at times. 3 weeks later is was back to normal.

30 minutes brought me from greatly concerned to not dwelling on major surgery.

[chusauli]

Sham acupuncture is a sham.

Wherever you touch the body, the acupuncture channels correspond, so you are still doing acupuncture, even if you are off the actual location of points. This is why acupressure, gua sha, cupping, and other methodologies work.

Because I teach the Tung Acupuncture system in addition to TCM, i know of many points are off the standard TCM acupuncture locations - these researchers may have accidently hit another point.

At any rate the channel or meridian is more important in treatment than the point. Points are merely access routes to the channels.

The research is inconclusive and further research is needed.

[Lee Chiang Po]

How does one go about learning or training accupuncture? And how does one go about choosing an accupuncturist? What are their requirements in order to learn or train to be an accupuncturist? Surely there are checks and balances? Just say I wanted to become a licensed accupuncturist, how would I go about that? Not that I am wanting to do so, but it would give me some idea as to how serious a person has to be. These are serious questons and I hope you don't ignore me.

[sanjuro_ronin]

I had some done on my shoulder while rehabing it, it worked great.

[Xiao3 Meng4]

Assuming you want to practice ethically, the first thing to do is decide where you want to practice, and research the local laws which govern acupuncture. If there are no laws governing your area, take a quick look at any bills or acts that are currently in the government pipeline to see whether or not any laws are being drawn up. If you find nothing, then pick a school that is accredited by the NCCAOM. If the laws require licensing, then find a school or accredited teacher who is able to prepare you for the exams specific to your local licensing body.

In general, acupuncture programs in North America range from 1500 hours on the low end (much too little in my opinion) to 3000 hours on the high end (barely enough, really,) with varying mixes of theory, science and practice.

Licensed states and provinces require acupuncture curriculums to have a good chunk of Western Medical theory ranging from anatomy, physiology and pathology to neurology and myology. Curriculums will vary in their inclusion of modern scientific research on the effects and application of acupuncture.

The NCCAOM, which is the oldest licensing body for oriental medicine in North America, has had the experience of accommodating and testing the competence of practitioners from many different styles of acupuncture - 8 principle acupuncture, 5 element acupuncture, classical acupuncture and Japanese acupuncture. Other licensing bodies have not been around as long and unless they've taken all acupuncture styles into account, they may not be prepared to test the competency of certain styles and practitioners. It's therefore best to directly ask the licensing body which texts are used as source materials for the competencies and then use that information to help you pick a school.

As it stands now, acupuncture and Chinese medicine is still very diverse and stylistically ecclectic, with different licensing bodies favouring different acupuncture styles and methods. This needs to be addressed, and it is being addressed, albeit very very slowly. As time goes on, the various licensing bodies are evolving towards inter-compatibility. I hope this will encourage useful, valid science and will help remove more of the distortions being passed along in the schools today. It will be difficult, though, since people like to cling to ways and ideas and status.

[mawali]

Sham acupuncture working does not mean any quack can do acupuncture!
From the point of view of the specific trials that show this, it only means that neurological mechanisms through bi-directional/biochemical transformation that goes far beyond the 'diseased' location. This is not necessarilty a negative conclusion but there are those who can and will attempt to use it as such.

In clinical trials in North America, placebo controlled trials are the sine qua non of drug development! Active drug vs an inert control and depending on the class of drug(s) being tested, placebos come out ahead. Any astute individual who sees this should consider how placebo controls can be used for benefit instead of saying it show negative results and go on to the next drug product!

[kfson]

How does one go about learning or training accupuncture? And how does one go about choosing an accupuncturist? What are their requirements in order to learn or train to be an accupuncturist? Surely there are checks and balances? Just say I wanted to become a licensed accupuncturist, how would I go about that? Not that I am wanting to do so, but it would give me some idea as to how serious a person has to be. These are serious questons and I hope you don't ignore me.

http://www.aoma.edu/
It's in Austin, Texas

[GeneChing]

Acupuncture fails to boost IVF success in study

NEW YORK | Tue Jul 13, 2010 5:15pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While some studies have suggested that acupuncture might boost a woman's chances of becoming pregnant through in-vitro fertilization (IVF), new findings question whether there is a true benefit.

In a study of 160 women who underwent IVF at one infertility clinic, researchers found that those who were randomly assigned to have acupuncture right before and after their treatment were no more likely to become pregnant than those who had a "sham" version of acupuncture.

Of women in the acupuncture group, 45 percent were found to be pregnant five to six weeks after their IVF cycle. The rate was 53 percent among those who received the sham procedure.

Acupuncture has been used for more than 2,000 years in Chinese medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments. According to traditional medicine, specific acupuncture points on the skin are connected to internal pathways that conduct energy, or qi ("chee"), and stimulating these points with a fine needle promotes the healthy flow of qi.

IVF involves fertilizing a woman's eggs in a lab dish, then transferring the resulting embryos to her uterus.

Some past studies have found that acupuncture, performed around the time of the embryo transfer, may boost a woman's chances of becoming pregnant. But it was unclear whether that reflected a true effect of acupuncture or some "non-specific" effect of having an additional therapy.

So for the new study, Dr. Irene Moy and colleagues at Northwestern University in Chicago randomly assigned women undergoing IVF at their fertility clinic to one of two treatment groups. In one, women received two sessions of "true" acupuncture, delivered to points that are connected to fertility, according to traditional Chinese medicine; women in the other group received needle stimulation to body sites not used in acupuncture.

In both groups, the sessions were performed right before and after the embryo transfer.

In the end, Moy's team found, women who received the sham acupuncture had a higher pregnancy rate -- though the difference was not significant in statistical terms.

The findings are not the final word on acupuncture and IVF, however, according to Moy and her colleagues.

One possibility, they note, is that acupuncture needling, even performed at non-acupuncture sites, has some sort of effect on IVF pregnancy rates that is outside of the principles of traditional Chinese medicine. If that's the case, effects of the sham acupuncture used in this study might have masked any benefit of the traditional version.

The researchers say that future studies could compare true acupuncture with "placebo" needles that do not penetrate the skin.

They also note that the protocol used in this and other clinical trials -- acupuncture sessions only on the day of the embryo transfer -- may not be adequate. In real-world practice, acupuncturists treating women with fertility problems would typically perform several sessions over weeks or months.

I want to be a SHAM acupuncturist. How would you say 'sham' in Chinese?

[taai gihk yahn]

the fact that there was a non-significant differeance suggests that further study is indicated - the non-statistical difference suggests that there maybe needs to b greater differentiation btw groups - it would also seem to suggest the validity of "sham" acup in terms of there being some effect on the system, but without the degree of specificity from non-sham rx.; and of course, 2 treats in context of what is trying to be impacted is a bit a minima - they should have looked at extant acup protocols and designed the rx protocol accordingly (e.g. - at least 8 treats wud seem to b reasonable) - and also they should have done it with a non-acup ctrl group versus a comprehensive protocol;

of course, this may have just been a pilot study, perhaps the results will encourage something more along the lines of what I suggested